A classic vanilla cake recipe, made completely from scratch! Ditch the box mixes — you’ll love how easy, moist and fluffy this homemade vanilla cake is!
I’m back in cold, snow-covered Pennsylvania after a long, wonderful (if not very warm… we arrived in the midst of a cold spell!) weekend in Florida with family. My cousin and my sister both ran in the Disney marathon and I nearly screamed a lung out on the Tower of Terror 😱.
My sister had a bad cold for the trip but still managed to run the Disney marathon and beat her own time, despite being barely able to even talk. I caught the cold on the way back home and don’t seem to be able to muster up the energy to change out of sweatpants or cook myself anything other than vanilla cake. The endurance gene skipped right over me, I swear.
Orrrrr, maybe it just exhibits itself in different ways. There’s no way I could run a marathon, but I can endure recipe fail after recipe fail after recipe fail until I land on the most perfect vanilla cake recipe there ever was.
Completely cloaked in chocolate frosting, naturally.
This vanilla cake recipe has been a long time coming. The journey began with my pineapple upside-down cake and was continued with my marble cake recipe — if you recall it took me almost a dozen attempts to get the vanilla cake base of those recipes right. A few more tweaks were still needed to make this a perfect standalone vanilla cake recipe, but, after a lot of wasted ingredients, we have arrived.
Looks like I can endure after all.
Tips for making the perfect vanilla cake recipe
- It’s best if all of your ingredients are at room temperature. I like to set out my butter, eggs, and buttermilk early in the morning so that they have reached room temperature by the time I am ready to bake.
- Don’t switch out the oil for more butter. This vanilla cake recipe uses both butter and oil because it gives it the best possible taste while still preserving the soft, fluffy texture that you want. Using all butter will actually likely make your cake more dense and dry. You can, however, substitute vegetable oil for the canola oil without issue.
- Make sure that your vanilla cake cools completely before frosting! If it’s warm at all, it’s likely to melt the frosting, leaving you with a big mess (ask me how I know…).
- Store your finished vanilla cake in an airtight container (like an airtight cake carrier). It will keep at room temperature for several days, or longer if stored in the refrigerator.
Be sure to check out my most recent video where I walk through all the steps to make the perfect vanilla cake, completely from scratch (printable recipe is just below the video).
Make sure that you also check out my favorite chocolate cake recipe!!
Enjoy!
How to Make Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (113g)
- ½ cup canola oil* (120ml)
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar 300g
- 4 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (300ml)
- 1 batch Chocolate Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and prepare two deep 8" round cake pans** by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly greasing the sides. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using an electric mixer) cream together the butter, canola oil and sugar until creamy and well-combined.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. The batter should be smooth and completely combined, but avoid over-mixing.
- Evenly divide batter into your prepared cake pans, and bake on 350F (175C) for 30-35 minutes. When the cake is done, the surface should spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out mostly clean with few moist crumbs (no wet batter).
- Allow cakes to cool in their cake pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost cake using my chocolate frosting and decorate with sprinkles (if desired).
Notes
How to Make Into Vanilla Cupcakes:
Fill cupcake liners no more than 3/4 of the way full. Bake on 350F for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean. This recipe will make approximately 24 cupcakes.Nutrition
Mama M says
Thanks for what is smelling like a delicious cake recipe! (It’s in the oven now, so we’ll report back on the outcome.)
We’re creating a layer cake with round cake pans—6”, 8”, and 10”. How much baking time in the oven would you estimate each size requires? If 8” round is 30-35 min, how much time would the 6” and 10” require?
Many thanks,
M
Sam says
Unfortunately I haven’t baked it in smaller or larger pans so I can’t really provide a good guess. I’m sorry. 🙁
Taya says
Hi Sam! I’ve been looking everywhere for a vanilla cake for my Grandmother’s birthday and this is the perfect one!
However, I don’t have any neutral vegetable oil in my house… only extra virgin olive oil. Could I use a 1/2 cup of olive oil or do you think it would affect the flavour? Should I just use a 1/2 cup of melted butter instead?
Thanks so much!
Sam says
Hi Taya! I would probably use melted butter over olive oil but the cake probably won’t be as moist. 🙂
Noelle says
Can you use powdered buttermilk? If so how Would you incorporate? Thanks!
Sam says
Hi Noelle! Unfortunately I ‘m not very familiar with using powdered buttermilk so I don’t exactly know how it will go here. If you try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Annabelle says
I’m 9 years old and I love this recipe it turned out perfectly. I have been looking a nice easy cake recipe for a while now and then I found yours. I make this all the time and my family loves it. Do you have a fondant recipe if so I would love to check it out? I going to try your no bake chocolate and peanut butter cookies this week. I hope they are as good as your other recipes thank you.
Sam says
Hi Annabelle! I am so glad you enjoyed the cake so much! Unfortunately, I do not have a fondant recipe. 🙁 I hope you love the cookies! 🙂
Ember says
Indoubled the recipe thinking it would make 48 cupcakes,but it made like 60. Not complaining Though they were amazing!
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Nothing wrong with a few extra cupcakes! 😉
Emmy says
We’ve been looking for a year for a good vanilla cake recipe, and cake this is it!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Emmy! 🙂
Sareka says
My came came out wonderful. It was moist and delicious. I will definitely be saving this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sareka! 🙂
Meredith says
Was hoping to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday but don’t have round cake pans. Could you use rectangular glass Pyrex and cut in half? If so what size glass pan would I use and how long would it cook for?
Sam says
Hi Meredith! You can bake this in a 13 x 9 glass dish. I have had others report a 30 minute bake time in a 13 x 9 but that was a metal pan so I am not quite sure what a bake time would be in a glass dish. Just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get over-baked. 🙂
Mmesoma says
Would separating the egg whites from the yolk and adding them separately(egg whites whipped into a meringue like in your white cake recipe) affect the cake badly?
Sam says
I haven’t done it. I don’t think it will ruin the cake. It may make it a little bit fluffier. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Emily says
Amazing cake! Moist and really tasty. Although mine wasn’t as fluffy, the only substitution I made was using cake flour instead of plain (all purpose) flour, could that be the reason? I assumed cake flour would help with the fluffyness
Sam says
Hi Emily! With cake flour you usually get a tighter crumb which makes it not quite as fluffy. This recipe is really made for all-purpose flour. Another possible issue is the batter may have been over-mixed. I hope this helps. 🙂
Kirbie says
Hello! Do you think this recipe would work okay for a cake mold (planning a dinosaur bday!) I tried it last year and it was delicious, but wasn’t sure if it made a difference in using for different styles of cakes. Thank you!
Sam says
Hi Kirbie! This cake should work in a cake mold. It’s a pretty sturdy cake. 🙂
Briana says
This is my go to vanilla cake recipe ! I LOVE IT ! ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Briana! 🙂
Tendai says
I have been looking for vanilla cake recipe for long time but now i have found one,thank you very much for this recipe i tried it mmm the cake was so nice yummy yummy.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Eilifr says
Hi I’m 10 years old, and I really love this recipe !! Me and my mom tried to bake it together and it turned out really moist. We added buttercream (your buttercream recipe) to make it prettier but, the cake it self is really delicous (the buttercream is delicious too). I really recomend this recipe. Thankyou Samantha Merritt. 😊😊😊
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Jenn says
Could Crisco shortening be substituted for the oil? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!!
Sam says
Hi Jenn! I haven’t tried it so I’m not quite sure how it would turn out. I think it could work but I am not sure the cake would be as good. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂